Today I meet with clients from Ohio (yes, midwesterners move to Sequim and Port Angeles too), and we have a dozen homes to look at, including MLS homes for sale and a FSBO (For-Sale-By-Owner).  The sun is already rising above the tree tops and casting its cheerful rays of bright hope across the fields.  The forecast is for another sunny day in the Rain Shadow of Sequim.  And if I can reveal a little known secret, Port Angeles benefits from the rain shadow, too.

When I called the homeowners yesterday whose homes we will view today, it is always an interesting conversation.  Most of the time it is a brief phone call just giving the owner a heads-up that I’ll be showing his or her home today and approximately at what time.  But once in a while I’ll talk to an owner who has experienced some frustrations in the selling process.  Their home may have been on the market for a long time (in the MLS called DOM or days on market).  They may not have had many showings, and they may have had some unqualified buyers bother them.

I wish I could help all of these homeowners today by selling their homes, but my clients are only going to buy one home today.  Understandably, each homeowner has some hope that this will be the day they sell their home, that these buyers will be “the one.”  As I talked with each homeowner yesterday briefly about today, some of them shared a few of the best features of their homes and talked about their homes’ uniqueness.  I love looking at and showing homes, so each showing is a new adventure for me, but for my clients only one home may actually catch their hearts.  Which one will it be?  We will find out.

As for all the homes I will show but do not sell today, my appreciation and respect goes out to each of these homeowners who are preparing their homes and hoping.

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Making it easy for you to search and filter through Sequim homes for sale in our MLS, here are some great links already narrowed down to the most popular parameters retirees seek in the Sequim area, which includes  three bedrooms, two baths with a minimum of 1,400 square feet, and as you can see, these listings are neatly categorized in price ranges for your convenience.

Homes for Sale $250,000 to $350,000
Homes for Sale $350,000 to $450,000
Homes for Sale $450,000 to $550,000
Homes for Sale $550,000 to $650,000
Homes for Sale $650,000 to $750,000
Homes for Sale $750,000 and above

Homes for Sale with a Water View and/or a Mountain View

Sequim Lots for Sale

And you’re welcome.

Chuck Marunde, J.D., Broker/Manager
Sequim & Port Angeles Real Estate
Branch Office of eXp Realty, LLC
618 South Peabody St., Suite I
Port Angeles, WA  98362
(360) 775-5424

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Looking at homes for sale after you’ve narrowed the list of possible homes in the MLS down to a manageable number for viewing does require a discerning eye.  All homes are not equal.  All custom built homes are not of the same quality.  Old homes and new homes have substantially different construction design and materials.  When I walk clients through a home, we are always comparing the home to what we have already looked at, and that includes a discerning examination of the quality of materials and workmanship.

I want to mention one thing today that is worth noting when you are viewing homes.  Wood trim is everywhere in a home.  Doors are trimmed, windows are trimmed, and walls are trimmed at the floor and at the ceiling.  There is often trim around cabinets and fireplaces, and you’ll find trim in every room in the house.

Here’s a helpful, albeit a minor, but no less important tip on judging quality and comparing homes.  Look at the trim in every room and observe the quality and type of trim used.  That tells you something about the home as you compare it to others.  A very cheap trim tells you that the home is built with cheap materials.  A builder would never use the cheapest trim on a custom built home that was otherwise built with the best materials, would he?   Or the trim may be a mid-quality trim.  That’s instructive, too.  If it is the highest quality wood trim, that tells you volumes about how the rest of the home was built too.  Mind you, this is not conclusive proof, just good evidence.

Then observe the workmanship.  Are there spaces and gaps at the corners and where the trim has seams?  If you see lots of spaces and misalignments, what does that tell you about the workmanship under the house, in the attic, and in the walls?

If you are looking at what appears to be a high quality custom home, and you find some significant spaces or gaps in trim, particularly at the ceiling level in large rooms where there are many seams, but everywhere else in the home the trim looks fantastic, there may be a reason.  Actually, there could be two reasons.  First, if wood trim is not dried or acclimated prior to installation, it will later shrink and leave small gaps, perhaps as much as 1/16th of an inch, or even more.  Second, if the home is not lived in full time and kept an even temperature, this could cause a problem.  If the owner travels extensively or leaves the home vacant for long periods of time, and the temperature is kept at 40 or 45 degrees, but turned up to 70 degrees when inhabited, that will wreak havoc with good wood, and could cause the kind of expansion and shrinkage that could leave spaces or gaps.

This little tip is not all-conclusive, but try it.  You will be surprised at how consistent and helpful it is to compare trim in Sequim homes you are considering buying.

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The following is an email question I received from a fellow Alaskan about Sequim Mobile Home Parks.  The emailer’s identify remains confidential.

Hi Chuck, I just discovered your web site http://www.sequim-real-estate-blog.com and appreciate its content as well as the time and work you have put into it.  Awesome job, and thank you!

I worked in Tok from time to time with the State of Alaska, so I have some experience with Tok, too.  As we speak, Chuck, I live in Anchorage Alaska.  I will be 60 in 2010 and am looking to purchase a manufactured home in  Sequim in a mobile park or maybe on a stand alone lot later in 2010 or early 2011. Right now I think I would like to start out near town so I could walk to businesses, maybe in the Hendrickson mobile park or a nearby mobile park. Is there a place you would suggest I could look at so I could learn more about the pluses and minuses of the mobile parks in Sequim. For example, I would not want to purchase a manufactured home in a park and then discover that the park is going to shut down and force me to move, like Anchorage has done to most of its mobile home park residents.  And do you have an email list I could subscribe to, that would keep me informed of mobile or manufactured homes when they come on the market?

Thanks, Chuck, and Happy New Year!

Joe, [not his real name]

Great hearing from a fellow Alaskan, and even more so because you know Tok!  Not many folks know where Tok is.  I was in Tok a few months ago, and honestly, it was pretty ugly.  Businesses are shut down and boarded up, old houses are abandoned, and a lot of people are struggling to survive.  Plus it wasn’t a pretty time of year with all the scrub pines looking pretty dismal.  I miss the mountains and hunting, but I don’t miss the cold of  interior Alaska.

The major mobile parks in Sequim are stable and won’t be going away anytime soon.  Hendrickson park just built an entirely new addition and so they did a major expansion, and the addition is very nice and classy.  The one thing I would say about mobile parks here is you’ll want to shop their space rental rates.  Having a manufactured home is a great way to get into an inexpensive home with low maintenance, but if the lot rental is $500 or $700 a month, it starts to push the cost of a manufactured home closer to a stick built.  But that depends on what you get for that rental, like utilities.  It could be a great arrangement.

I do have a site you can use to search for manufactured homes here, and you can put in your parameters for what you want and make sure you check the box that says “off site-built” and you can also subscribe to updates to your email from this site.

SequimHomesForSale.com

Also, you can subscribe to my free email newsletter which comes out once each week with Sequim and Port Angeles real estate news.  Just go to Sequim Real Estate Newsletter.

I think the best way to research the parks here is to go to their website, if they have one, or to simply call and ask them to send or email information.  Here is a list of most of the parks here:

Lazy Acres Mobile Home Park
111 Dryke Road, Sequim, WA (360) 683-6294

Clasen Cove Estates Co-Op
890 North Portside Way, Sequim, WA (360) 683-1120

Carlsborg Mobile Estates
491 Mill Road, Sequim, WA (360) 683-6920

Green Acres Mobile Estates
400 Gupster Road, Sequim, WA (360) 683-6623

Spruce West Mobile Home Park
167 Plum Tree Lane, Sequim, WA (360) 683-6564

Parkwood Manufactured Housing
261520 Highway 101, Sequim, WA (360) 683-8765

Hendrickson Estates
653 North 7th Avenue, Sequim, WA (360) 683-4571

Baywood Village
90 Baywood Village Road, Sequim, WA (360) 683-3101

Heritage Homes of Sequim Inc
259335 Highway 101, Sequim, WA (360) 683-2811

Golden Homes Inc.
261533 Highway 101, Sequim, WA (360) 681-7559

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Today I share one simple tip on How to Save Money Buying a Sequim Home.  This is a very practical tip, and it is backed up by 30 years of real estate experience observing the seasons of the year and the real estate cycles that come and go.  I’ve written elsewhere on this real estate blog about where the best deals are, how to negotiate like an expert, and avoiding traps for the unwary.  I’ve published articles on this blog about Sequim and what properties appear to be good deals but are not and where you will find some of the best properties for the best prices.  But today I want to share what will seem like a simple rule, almost too simple to be a great rule.

Buy when others are not.

You might be thinking, “What kind of dumb rule is that?,” but hear me out.  By saying, “Buy when others are not,” I do not mean that one should always buy when no one else is.  I don not mean one should not be discerning.  I do not mean to buy indiscriminately, and I do not mean one should buy what no one else wants.

The best opportunities in real estate and in the stock market have always been to NOT follow the crowd.  Thinking like the rest of the crowd is almost always a way to either loose money or to be mediocre.  The best investments in terms of timing are made when others are not, hence “Buy when others are not.”

The practice of this rule requires being cautious, and it does require a certain amount of risk, but it is calculated risk taken after one has done their due diligence and obtained experienced counsel.  In terms of the market and timing, I believe that for the buyer who has already decided that Sequim is their retirement destination and they are going to buy a home here, the best time to do that is in the slow winter months like this month or January.  This is a time when most buyers are not taking action, they are preoccupied, or they have decided to wait until spring to buy a house.

Just like everyone else.  If you wait until spring to buy a house, you will be competing against all the other buyers who have decided that spring and summer is the time to buy.  Talk about setting yourself up to compete with the largest number of other bidders!  Why do that?  The difference could be $10,000 or $40,000.  That got your attention?

As a buyer, you have more negotiating power right now than you will in the spring when many other buyers just like you are also making their move.  Makes sense, doesn’t it?

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Sequim mountain views are hard to come by, at least a panoramic mountain view, but a beautiful 4.77 acre property with the view and fenced for horses at this price is rare.  This is a beautiful custom home in Sequim, and there aren’t many true comps for this one.  I expect this home will sell as buyers from California are cherry picking the best of the best.  This home is the best of the best.

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Search for Sequim homes and land in the MLS with this powerful online site, which is absolutely free. Watch this three minute audio slide show as it walks you through the MLS search to help you find your next home or lot. I believe this is the most powerful and easiest MLS search for the entire Sequim area. Click on this image below to watch the video.

Search for Sequim homes and land is brought to you by Chuck Marunde, J.D.

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Sequim homes and land for sale, and here are a few Sequim listings and Port Angeles listings:

Sequim homes and land for sale by Chuck Marunde, Broker and Realtor for Sequim and Port Angeles Real Estate, LLC.

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Sequim mountain view homes for sale exist, and depending on the mountain view you want, you should be able to find one that is quite nice.   Of course, there are some variables, such as the size of the lot you want.   Sequim has city sized lots to one acre to five acres to 10 acres and even 20 acres.   Prices range from $57,000 to several hundred thousands, based on the acreage, the location and the view.   It’s crazy, but we actually have some lots with both a mountain view and a water view.   You’ll pay a premium for these lots, as you might expect.

I’ve had several clients recently say they prefer a mountain view over a water view.   Sequim and Port Angeles are both uniquely situated between the gorgeous waters of the Strait of Juan de Fuca and the towering mountains of the Olympics.   It creates some nice opportunities for owning a home with an incredible setting.

Whether you have been here to scope out the area, or have never yet seen the beauty of the Olympic Peninsula, I recommend viewing some of the homes and land for sale in the Sequim and Port Angeles MLS.   And if I can answer any questions for you, email me or call me.   That’s my job, and it would be a pleasure to help.

Sequim mountain view homes for sale – even photos can’t do justice to the real views.

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Finding your next Sequim home is full of adventure, but not always the kind of adventure buyers think.   It’s hard work, there’s plenty of driving and discussions, and major transitions are always accompanied by a certain amount of stress.   All of this may be obvious to the mature, but what isn’t so obvious to many is that once you find your home and make an offer, the negotiating process is not typically a cake walk.   In fact, sometimes after several counters back and forth, buyers find themselves emotionally stretched and often a bit tense at the 11th hour of the negotiations.   Many buyers will express a feeling of frustration and anger directed toward the seller just before getting mutual acceptance on the last volley of counteroffers.   This is true not only for individual sellers, but for banks handling foreclosures and short sales.

Just before mutual acceptance on a price, many buyers often feel like their dream home is just out of their reach, but this is when victory is so close.   Sellers often play hard ball up to the last moment, but buyers who are discerning, have good judgment, are getting sage advise from a knowledgeable and professional Realtor, can reach their goals if they are patient and persevere.

This is not a game for beginners, and it certainly is not a game for a novice Realtor.   Negotiating is a serious game, and a lot of money is at stake–your money.   Be sure your Realtor as your adviser can   walk you through the mine field of legal and financial negotiating, as well as the emotional and psychological challenges you will face.   It’s important to have a professional you can talk to during this process.   Believe me, there are a lot of issues to discuss, and they are not the same for every buyer.

Your money, your future home, and your mental health are reasons you must gain the upper hand in negotiating.   Buying your next home in Sequim must be a victory for you.   It can be.   Email me with your questions anytime.   I’d love to help you gain the victory and your new home.

chuckmarunde@gmail.com

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